Delegate Dinh Thi Kieu Trinh: Please clarify whether 'forest owner' is also 'land owner'?

(Baonghean.vn) – Commenting on the draft Law on Forest Protection and Development (amended), delegate Dinh Thi Kieu Trinh (Nghe An National Assembly Delegation) said that it is necessary to clarify whether "landowner" is also "forest owner".

The draft Law needs to respect the principle of ensuring living space for residential communities and ethnic minorities who live closely with the forest.

The State needs to create conditions for people to have forests to carry out spiritual and cultural activities, forests to develop production, have guaranteed income from forests and can live by forestry associated with hunger eradication and poverty reduction in localities, aiming at the goal of protecting and developing forests as well as harmonizing social relationships and forest management institutions in practice, only then can forests be protected and developed sustainably.

Regarding the authority to allocate, lease, reclaim, and convert forest use purposes, Ms. Kieu Trinh proposed to add specific regulations on scale, area, and each level from the central to local levels. In addition, it is necessary to clarify: Forest owners such as forestry companies and forest management boards are allowed to re-lease forests or not. In particular, it is necessary to carefully consider assigning this authority to the district level because in reality, many districts have recently committed many serious violations in forest management, use, and protection.

The draft law has not mentioned forest land, has not clearly explained what is meant by forest management, development and use, and has not mentioned the rights and obligations of individuals and organizations assigned natural forests. In particular, the draft law stipulates that "forest is an ecosystem including populations of forest plants and animals... in which the main components are trees, bamboo, reeds... over 5m high for mountain plants or over 2m for other flora systems..." is not comprehensive because the rest of the forest will be regulated.

It is recommended to clarify the regulation on whether the “forest owner” is also the “land owner” or not. It is necessary to study the responsibility and obligations of forest product processing establishments for forest development.

Delegate Dinh Thi Kieu Trinh - Expert of the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs of Nghe An (Nghe An National Assembly Delegation) commented on the draft Law on Forest Protection and Development (amended). Photo: Huyen Thuong

Delegate Dinh Thi Kieu Trinh gave specific comments on the following Laws:

Regarding the provisions on forest owners in Article 8:According to Point b Clause 1 Article 8 of the Draft Regulations on forest owners, it is stipulated as follows: “b) Economic organizations including enterprises, cooperatives, and cooperative unions are established and operate in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law;”

Thus, according to this regulation, "foreign-invested enterprises" that are established and operate under the provisions of Vietnamese law are also considered "economic organizations".

However, Clause 4, Article 8 of the draft also stipulates an additional forest owner: “4. Foreign-invested enterprises in Vietnam”.

So if the draft regulation is as it is now, Point b Clause 1 and Clause 4 of Article 8 have overlap. One subject - a foreign-invested enterprise in Vietnam is regulated twice in the same Article.

In addition, Clause 27, Article 3 of the 2013 Land Law stipulates that “Economic organizations include enterprises, cooperatives and other economic organizations as prescribed by civil law, except for enterprises with foreign investment capital.”

The current Land Law has separated the subject of Foreign-invested Enterprises from the subject of Economic Organizations for adjustment. So if the draft law wants to separate to be consistent with the Land Law, Point b, Clause 1, Article 8 of the draft should be amended in the direction of "b) Economic organizations include enterprises, cooperatives, and cooperative unions established and operating in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law, except for enterprises with foreign investment capital".

On the rights and obligations of the Special-use Forest Management Board:

At Point d Clause 1 Article 36 stipulates the right of the Special Use Forest Management Board to lease or associate with economic sectors to invest in developing eco-tourism, resorts, and entertainment. However, in Section 1 Chapter III of the draft regulations on Forest allocation, forest leasing, change of forest use purpose, and forest recovery, there is no provision on leasing special use forests.but only has regulations on leasing production forests in Article 22.. To ensure consistency between the proposed draft Laws, there should be additional changes in these provisions.

Regarding forest valuation as prescribed in Article 85:

According to Clause 4, Article 85: “4. The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development shall prescribe the price framework for production forests, protection forests and special-use forests owned by the entire people with the State as the representative owner. The People's Council at the provincial level shall decide on specific forest prices in the province.”

The regulation of forest price framework is a very important issue to ensure consistency. This authority should not be given to an individual but to a collective to ensure democracy and consistency. In this case, it is recommended to amend the draft Law in the direction of giving the authority to regulate forest price framework to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the agency directly managing forest issues, instead of giving the authority to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development as in the current draft.

PV-CTV Group